Greg Heister on why last season's Gonzaga Bulldogs team was his favorite of all time
ROOT Sports commentator Greg Heister talks about his favorite Gonzaga men's basketball team of all time, his career as a commentator and passion for fly-fishing
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Zag fans, you're watching Gonzaga Nation.
00:10 I'm your host Dan Dickow, here with the one, the only,
00:13 the voice that is buttery, silky smooth
00:17 when you listen to him on Rootsports KHQ,
00:21 none other than Greg Heister.
00:23 - Buttery what?
00:24 What did you, I don't know.
00:26 - Buttery smooth, you've never heard of it.
00:26 - I'm not even sure I agree with that.
00:28 - Well, it's been described in multiple ways
00:31 that you have a voice of the gods.
00:33 - Well, it's great to be here, Dan.
00:34 - Yeah.
00:35 - It's good to see you.
00:36 - Well, I mean, I'm just saying,
00:38 I've heard many people describe that voice.
00:39 - I always know when summer's over
00:42 because I got a call from Dickow saying,
00:44 "Hey, can you come do something with me?"
00:47 So I know the season's getting close.
00:49 This is like my way of knowing.
00:52 So it's good to be here.
00:53 And sorry for the hair.
00:55 The haircut's coming actually after this.
00:58 Dan could have scheduled it after the haircut,
01:00 but no, he wanted the wilderness look.
01:02 So here we go.
01:03 - Well, you spend--
01:04 - This is the best I got for you.
01:04 - Well, I mean, I think what we kick off our partnership,
01:08 our work together October 7th
01:09 with Craziness in the Kennel.
01:11 I believe that's gonna be on tap again on TV,
01:14 but you spend the majority of your summers away,
01:17 which is one reason you and I don't communicate much
01:20 until this time of year.
01:22 What is it that people don't know about you
01:24 that you are passionate about?
01:26 - Well, I have a fly fishing show
01:28 that airs on Discovery Channel every Sunday
01:30 called Seasons on the Fly.
01:31 So we travel the globe shooting episodes.
01:33 So I'm gone a lot doing that.
01:34 And then I own a fishing lodge in Alaska.
01:37 So the month of June, a bunch of August,
01:40 I'll be going up there in a week or two.
01:42 And then the end of October is spent there
01:44 opening it up, closing it up, and of course fishing.
01:48 - How'd you get into that?
01:50 Because obviously people see you on TV
01:54 with Gonzaga basketball.
01:55 They see you on Pac-12 Networks doing different things,
01:58 but they don't probably know you
01:59 as the voice of a fishing show or a world-class fisherman,
02:03 or even one of your other interesting propositions
02:07 that you're a part of is the Iditarod.
02:08 - I didn't know this was gonna be about me today.
02:11 - Well, we have to--
02:12 - It's about, you think they really care about me?
02:15 - It's gonna be about your thoughts later on.
02:16 - Okay, my thoughts.
02:17 Okay, good.
02:18 Well, I grew up in the outdoors.
02:20 I had a family that lived in the outdoors
02:22 and I've been fishing since I was a boy
02:24 in Tine Flies and fly fishing.
02:26 So I grew up a big fan of Kurt Gowdy
02:29 and it was in reruns at the time.
02:34 It was a show called "The American Sportsman"
02:36 hosted by Kurt.
02:37 And he was one of the great play-by-play voices of all time.
02:41 And was a Hall of Famer, did Super Bowls, NBA titles,
02:44 Final Fours, did it all.
02:46 He hosted the show, so it was Kurt Gowdy that I wanted to be.
02:49 I wanted to do outdoors television
02:51 and be a play-by-play announcer.
02:53 I read a book in high school called
02:56 "So You Wanna Be a Sportscaster?"
02:58 And it was written by Ken Coleman,
03:01 who was the voice of the Boston Red Sox
03:03 and the old Cleveland Browns with Jim Brown
03:05 and things in the '50s.
03:06 Also a Hall of Fame play-by-play announcer.
03:11 My first job out of college was in Cleveland at WJW TV
03:16 working with a guy, the sports director's name
03:18 was Casey Coleman.
03:19 It was Ken Coleman's son.
03:22 And I ended up covering Craig Elo,
03:24 who was playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
03:26 And then you zoom forward all these years later,
03:28 and Elo, I ended up working Gonzaga games
03:31 with Elo all those days.
03:32 So it was this really crazy circular motion.
03:36 I don't know, we got a little off the subject,
03:39 I think there, Dan, I'll blame you for that.
03:41 But the outdoors thing too,
03:43 it was just kind of a natural progression.
03:45 I'm a storyteller.
03:46 One of my first jobs was in Anchorage.
03:48 We were the official station
03:50 of the Iditarod sled dog race.
03:51 So that created a love.
03:53 I'm out there covering dogs, chasing dogs
03:57 for three weeks in the month of March.
03:59 So I miss the NCAA tournament every year.
04:02 Most of it, I get time.
04:04 If the Zags get to the Sweet 16, the Elite Eight,
04:07 I'll be there.
04:08 I am every year.
04:09 But I've cut teeth as a storyteller out on the trail.
04:14 That event and those people are the greatest stories
04:17 in all the sports.
04:19 And it blossomed a passion and a love
04:23 that still lives in me today.
04:25 It's a great, great, great event.
04:27 - Well, you talk about storytelling for the Iditarod.
04:31 I'm sure there's some storytelling to a certain extent
04:33 with your fishing shows.
04:34 But people know you as the voice of the Zags
04:37 with the TV games.
04:38 And you were able to paint a picture a lot of times
04:42 about different things that are going on.
04:45 What is it about Gonzaga basketball
04:47 that has made you want to keep staying involved
04:50 in calling those games?
04:51 Besides the fact that we get a front row seat.
04:54 - Yeah, like they're all my friends.
04:56 Like Dan Dickow and Richard Fox are all my friends.
04:58 And it should be pointed out that I do like to tell stories
05:02 during the games, but it's only when Richard and Dan
05:04 give me time to do that.
05:06 - When Richard gives you time.
05:07 - Which is not very often, to be honest with you.
05:09 - Richard gives you time.
05:11 - But no, like they're all my friends.
05:13 I mean, Coach Few is one of my dear friends.
05:15 There's a lot of boosters around the program.
05:19 There's a bunch of those season ticket holders over there
05:21 that I've known now for over 20 years.
05:23 They're friends, we fish together, we hang out together.
05:26 And really it's not about Gonzaga.
05:31 It's about the people that I have become really close to
05:35 and entwined with over all these years.
05:37 And it's hard not to root for friends to be successful.
05:42 Right? Like there's a lot of guys that want the Gonzaga.
05:45 There's a lot of gals that want the Gonzaga.
05:47 So they're fans of the program.
05:50 For me, I mean, Mike Roth is one of the best people
05:52 I've ever, ever known in my life.
05:55 Same with Coach Few.
05:57 And we've become great friends over the years.
06:00 And then, you know, the program and calling these games,
06:05 Dan, has just put me in contact with people like yourself
06:08 and a Craig Elo and all of the people
06:11 that I've called games for,
06:12 for other networks over the years.
06:14 It's just led to a lot of different things.
06:16 So, you know, I'm getting to the age now
06:19 where you get a little melancholy and reminiscent
06:21 and I've been doing it enough years where you look back
06:24 and you're like, holy hell, what a ride.
06:28 - Yeah.
06:30 - What an opportunity it's been to be associated.
06:34 And it just keeps getting better and better and better.
06:40 It's one of the most crowning jewels
06:44 of my career these days.
06:46 And you have no idea when you get the phone call
06:48 20 whatever years ago, do you want to call games?
06:52 You know, Coach Few and I weren't even fishing together
06:54 at that time.
06:55 You just don't know, right?
06:58 You don't know what it's going to blossom into.
07:01 - So you've been calling games, you started with radio,
07:04 you morphed into TV.
07:06 So you've been calling games for that long.
07:08 - Yeah.
07:09 - Is the excitement at this stage of the year
07:11 where end of August, early September,
07:15 where the focus starts turning to college football
07:18 and the true basketball fans,
07:20 they're looking up stuff every single day online.
07:22 Has the excitement for you changed in the last 20 years?
07:27 - No, no, no, no, no.
07:28 No, I mean, people laugh at me all the time
07:32 and I was telling you, November, December, January last year
07:36 that was my favorite Zag team of all time last year.
07:39 Because you just never knew.
07:41 - You did not know last year.
07:43 - You did not know.
07:44 And they had this ability to allow people to stay close
07:48 and then they just ripped up hearts out of guys.
07:52 And I mean, remember at BYU?
07:56 Those fans were starting to trickle down the aisles, right?
07:59 'Cause they were going to storm the court.
08:01 And then the Zags ripped their hearts out.
08:03 Like, I don't know how you can't be excited about that.
08:06 That was one of the greatest things I've seen
08:08 in all these years around this program,
08:10 NCAA tournament or not.
08:11 Like, it was fantastic when these guys rose
08:16 to those occasions.
08:17 They kept doing that over and over and over.
08:19 And of course, LMU got them at home.
08:21 It didn't happen.
08:22 Drew had a shot, Julian had a shot.
08:24 It just didn't go in.
08:25 But it happened throughout the season
08:28 where they just allowed guys, teams to stay close
08:31 and then they ripped their,
08:33 I'd like to throw a few words in front of that, heart out.
08:36 - Yeah.
08:37 So can you put your finger on it,
08:39 exactly what it is for a team one year versus another?
08:42 'Cause there's been some talented teams
08:43 that I don't want to say they didn't reach their potential,
08:46 but they didn't have maybe the don't say quit
08:49 mantra that last year's team had.
08:52 Is there something you can put your finger on?
08:54 - Well, but you can probably do that better than I can.
08:57 'Cause you've been on so many teams
08:59 and you've played the game for so long.
09:01 I mean, Drew Timmy was an alpha dog.
09:05 Like he was an absolute alpha dog.
09:06 And I don't think he's cut out of the cloth.
09:09 When you think of an alpha dog on a basketball court,
09:11 I don't think he's cut out of that cloth.
09:13 And I probably don't think that the fans of the game
09:17 really understood his desire to win
09:20 and how deep it ran, right?
09:22 So can you put a finger on it?
09:26 I don't know if anybody can.
09:27 It's about chemistry.
09:29 It's about love of one another.
09:30 It's about playing together.
09:32 It's about all that stuff.
09:33 And at the end of the day,
09:34 I think you gotta have that one guy.
09:36 And maybe there were years
09:37 they just didn't have that one guy.
09:39 - They're hard to find.
09:40 - Yeah, totally.
09:41 Yeah, totally.
09:42 You had it.
09:43 I hate to admit that.
09:44 (laughing)
09:46 - I didn't ask you to say that.
09:47 - No, you know, and honestly,
09:49 like this past year was my favorite year.
09:52 You're, and I, well, I'll just say it.
09:54 Your year was absolutely my favorite.
09:57 Besides last year.
09:59 It was my very first year doing games
10:02 and Dan Dickow was the craziest thing
10:04 that I'd ever been close to in my life.
10:06 Just hitting shots.
10:09 And you had that will.
10:11 You did not want to lose.
10:12 And you weren't gonna allow your teammates to lose and stuff.
10:15 So I think that's what continues to draw me
10:18 to these games, to these teams and these programs
10:23 is just these young people
10:25 that are just going to the edge for one another.
10:27 It's pretty cool to witness.
10:29 - Well, we've gone on for quite some time.
10:31 We're gonna have to do this again.
10:33 We're also gonna have to do it
10:34 bringing in our partner, Richard Fox, one of these days.
10:37 - Oh, it'll get fun then.
10:38 - Yeah, I wanted, the other thing at some point,
10:41 I wanna hear some of these stories about fishing.
10:45 - Oh, yeah.
10:46 - 'Cause I'm not a good fisherman.
10:47 I wish I were better.
10:50 - Well, we just need to go, Danno.
10:51 - You know, the one thing I am frustrated about
10:54 with our chat today,
10:55 and I'm gonna give you one last chance before we wrap,
10:59 is that you or Coach Pheu as the better fisherman,
11:03 you realize he affects my employment.
11:06 (Danno laughing)
11:09 - But if he's,
11:10 (both laughing)
11:11 gotcha, all right.
11:12 So I guess, listeners,
11:15 you kind of come to your own conclusion, but last chance.
11:18 - He has an impact on my employment.
11:21 - Are you saying you let him catch the bigger fish?
11:26 - Oh, no, that's definitely happened.
11:28 No, that has definitely happened.
11:30 I'll tell you one story.
11:31 So we're up on the Naknek River in Alaska,
11:34 and we're swinging for trout,
11:35 and it's just a spectacular river known for its big fish.
11:39 And he, of course, he goes into the run first,
11:42 then he starts fishing down,
11:43 and I get behind him, and I get in the river,
11:45 and I start swinging.
11:46 My fly's coming right down at his feet,
11:49 and I got a boom, right?
11:51 And I reel it in.
11:51 It's like a 27-inch beautiful trout.
11:55 And I release it, take some photos,
11:58 and we're yucking it up.
12:00 And I go right back out there,
12:01 and I start swinging again,
12:02 like three casts down, literally right at his feet.
12:05 Boom, right?
12:06 Like a 30-inch trout.
12:07 (laughs)
12:09 And I get the photos, and I go,
12:11 I'm like, that's it, I'm done.
12:13 I go over on the bank, and I sit down,
12:15 and just kind of lay down.
12:16 I probably got the thermos out.
12:18 And he starts yelling at me, like a heister,
12:21 like in some expletives in there.
12:25 And I'm like, you know,
12:27 and it's kind of an image of him.
12:32 It's an insight into the guy.
12:35 And he says, heister, what are you doing?
12:36 And I said, I just caught two
12:37 of the greatest trout of my life.
12:40 I don't need to catch another one.
12:41 And he's like, the bleep, you don't.
12:44 You should get in here and catch 10 of them, right?
12:47 I mean, that's why he's been so good for so long,
12:49 'cause he's so competitive.
12:50 But I think, in my own way,
12:52 that kind of answered your question.
12:53 - Gotcha.
12:54 - Okay.
12:55 - Gotcha.
12:56 - I didn't see where the rest of that was going,
12:58 but great start.
13:00 - I'm sure he doesn't remember that.
13:02 - Well, Greg, I know we chatted a little bit
13:04 throughout the process of this sit down about your hair.
13:08 Well, we do have these new Gonzaga Nation hats.
13:12 Wanted to share with you.
13:13 And had I thought about this sooner,
13:15 we would have had you wear that.
13:16 - Wait, wait, wait, hold up.
13:18 - Is it big enough?
13:18 - Yeah, that's it.
13:19 We're gonna see.
13:20 We're gonna see.
13:21 Don't go away.
13:22 We're gonna put this on the last little button here.
13:25 And let's see.
13:26 This is the magic moment right now.
13:28 - It fits!
13:29 - Nice job, Dan!
13:30 - There we go!
13:31 - Nice job.
13:32 It's on the very last one, though.
13:33 Good.
13:34 - There you have it.
13:35 So for today's guest, Greg Heister,
13:38 myself, Dan Dickow, Gonzaga Nation,
13:40 thanks, you, Greg, for joining.
13:42 - A parting gift.
13:44 (upbeat music)
13:46 (upbeat music)